Origin accounts hijacked, EA denies any hack

A week of hacks this may be! Some users of Origin have reported receiving mails from the service that their account information has been changed, despite the fact that these users haven’t made any changes.

Initially EA didn’t give a clear answer to the issue, advising those affected to contact Origin Help or EA Support. However, with the growing number, EA has issued a statement clarifying that there is no evidence of any hacking on their end. “At this point, we have no reason to believe there has been any intrusion into our Origin database,” EA told Eurogamer.

So, the question becomes, if EA isn’t being breached, then how are user accounts getting hijacked? One theory is that if the email ID associated with the Origin account was discovered by the hacker, then it wouldn’t be very difficult to brute force their way into the account. Then there’s also the possibility that the users are using the same login credentials across various sites, and a breach on another site could have allowed the hacker to gain access to their Origin account.

Given that there is a large number of users reporting issues with their account, a breach on the EA side does seem likely, and given that the investigation is not yet concluded, it is possible to actually come across evidence of foul play. Not to mention, it’s also possible that if a hack was done on the database, the hacker himself could come forward proving the legitimacy.